The Best Way to Prepare for the Worst: Disaster Recovery Plan

As the country continues to endure the destruction caused by the recent natural disasters, we keep the victims close to our hearts and continue to offer support in any way possible.

With such utter devastation, we are forced to recognize our own vulnerability and the importance of ensuring we are protected if we should face a disaster, whether natural or man-made. As sentient beings, we are naturally driven to protect our families and home. If you are a business owner, protecting your business is crucial.

The Best Way to Prepare for the Worst: Disaster Recovery Plan

Check your backups

It has happened: a great backup plan, backups taken on schedule, everything seemingly bulletproof until the backups were found to be empty.

A good backup and DR strategy should include off-site/cloud storage of important information, regular data saving and backup, fireproofing, and protection against malware and viruses. It should also perform regular audits of your stress-testing recovery plan to ensure your data, servers, intranets and LANs are protected in an emergency.

Review annually

At least once a year ask if you’re backing up everything you should be. And could the process be easier? Do you have a business continuity plan in place? Consider your business processes and how a loss of computing capability could affect them. Accent will walk through the best options for your business needs and help you develop a strong plan.

Consider your storage options

Onsite backups allow for the swiftest data retrieval. However, they are also vulnerable to the same threats as your primary systems. Thieves, for instance, are unlikely to take pity and leave backup hardware behind. Fire and flood are equally heartless.

Your backup plan needs to involve another site or the cloud. Cloud backup can be automated and allow you to back up everything – operating system, programs, and data.

Keep up-to-date

It is vitally important to keep your antivirus software current on all workstations and servers within your internal LAN and to ensure they are able to isolate an affected machine before the contagion spreads. Additionally, keep all production servers/network devices updated with the latest patches and scan for vulnerabilities on a consistent basis.

The best DR plans include regular backups of all production-critical devices, secure and accessible recovery of those backups and a step-by-step recovery procedure that relevant personnel can understand clearly and initiate in an emergency.

The good news is that Accent Consulting can be responsible for all of your backup and DR needs while ensuring that your IT infrastructure is up to date and resilient. Sourced: Oneaffiniti & Federal Communications Commission